508 



BIRDS 



BIRDS 



571. Field sparrow. (5>iin.) 



allow the public in general to attempt destroying the nests, poison- 

 ing them or shooting them, is running a great risk in the use of 

 guns and poison; and to offer prizes for their nests and eggs is sure 

 to result in the destruction of many nests of valuable sparrows. 

 This work should be done systematically by specially appointed 

 persons at the public expense. In some European cities, there is an 

 official known as the "Sparrow Warden," whose duty it is to pro- 

 ceed energetically against the sparrows. 



The house finch, or linnet, has been the source of much com- 

 plaint on the part of the fruit-growers of California, so that the in- 

 vestigations of the Biological Survey were of great interest. It 

 appears that its claim to protection is in its enormous consumption 

 of the seeds of weeds, as well as for its esthetic value, for it cer- 

 tainly is a trim little bird and a 

 good singer. Inasmuch as the lin- 

 net's food has been proved to be 

 86.2 per cent weed-seeds, and since 

 examination of the contents of 

 many stomachs shows that fruit is 

 far from being its principal article 

 of diet, many Californians protect 

 the bird and plant shrubs and trees 

 to attract them away from the 

 fruit. These birds are fond of elder- 

 berries and many other wild fruits. 

 The cedar waxwings or cherry- 

 birds (Fig. 572), go in small flocks 

 in search of food. Their fondness 

 for cedar berries has given them 

 their name, although they have a 

 wide range of food. In early sum- 

 mer they feed almost exclusively 

 on insects and become expert fly- 

 catchers. Unfortunately, they have 

 a bad reputation among fruit- 

 growers because of their fondness 

 for cherries. It has been shown, 

 however, that they abundantly pay for the cherries taken. From 

 an orchard infested with canker-worms, the stomachs of seven 

 cedar-birds were examined, all of which were full of worms, 

 averaging 100 to each. It was estimated that this flock would 

 destroy 90,000 of the pests if they stayed in the orchard a month. 

 At Washington, 152 stomachs of cedar-birds were examined show- 

 ing that 74 per cent of the food consisted of wild fruits, 13 per 

 cent of cultivated fruits, 5 per cent of which was cherries. The 

 remainder consisted of grasshoppers, bark-lice, and beetles, among 

 them the elm-leaf beetle. 



The Carolina wren adapts itself to civilized conditions, and often 

 nests about houses and farm buildings, as well as in old logs and 

 tree-trunks. It is an eminently useful species, destroying great 

 numbers of beetles, ants, weevils, especially the boll-weevil, which 

 it destroys during its period of hibernation. Like its relative, the 

 house wren, it may be attracted by nest ing- houses. It is not 

 migratory and may be heard all the year round from the Gulf north 

 to Connecticut and Illinois. The house wren (Fig. 573) will occupy 

 almost any little box, provided it be water-tight. The English 

 sparrow will do its best to drive the wren away, but with a small 

 opening the wren is safe and will usually win in the contest. The 

 diet of the wren is mainly insectivorous, consisting of grasshoppers, 

 ants, beetles, grubs, spiders, and hairy caterpillars. Many a fruit 

 tree has been saved from the ravages of the tussock moth cater- 

 pillar by a family of wrens in the vicinity. Wrens gather spiders' 

 egg-sacs full of eggs, putting them inside the house on the wall, 

 ready for the first meal of the young birds. 



The catbird (Fig. 574) is fond of fruit. The robin is often blamed 

 for the deeds of the catbird. Inasmuch as the nestlings eat 95 per 

 cent animal food, mainly insects and spiders, it is far better to 

 plant fruit trees especially for the 

 catbirds than to destroy them on 

 account of their fruit-eating habits. 

 In case of insect outbreaks, the 

 catbird attacks gypsy, brown-tail, 

 canker-worm, and tent-caterpillars. 

 The attacks that the Balti- 

 more oriole makes on the cherries, 

 grapes, and the pea-pods, are more 

 than paid for by its destruction of 

 insects. Tent-caterpillars and other 

 hairy larvae that many other biro!s 

 will not touch are eagerly eaten by 

 it. The oriole does not swallow 

 the whole caterpillar, but carefully 

 removes a small portion of the 

 inside. The orchard oriole is a 

 related bird. Investigations in the 

 cotton fields of Texas and Louis- 

 iana show that nearly a third of 

 the specimens examined contained 

 remains of the cotton-boll-weevil. Like the Baltimore oriole, it is 

 mainly insectivorous in its diet and destroys a great many injuri- 

 ous species. 



Blackbirds are of several kinds. The purple grackle and the 

 bronzed grackle are together known as crow blackbirds (Fig. 575). 

 Their food has been thoroughly studied. An examination of 2,258 

 stomachs showed that corn is consumed every month. At the same 

 time, were found insects, spiders, myriapods, crawfish, earthworms, 

 sow-bugs, hairsnakes, snails, fishe?, tree-toads, salamanders, lizards, 

 snakes, birds' eggs, and mice. Of the 48 per cent of animal food, 

 46 per cent consisted of insects. Of these, beetles were present 

 in the greatest numbers. Many stomachs were crammed with 

 large white beetle grubs. Often more than thirty grasshoppers 

 were found in a single bird. Young blackbirds are fed on insect 



572. Cedar-bird, or cedar 

 waxwing. (Length 7 in.) 



,.7- 



food entirely. They 8ock to caterpillar outbreaks. Many cases 

 are reported in which fields have been entirely freed of sudden 

 growths of grasshoppers and crickets. The red-winged black- 

 bird has a bad reputation and is unprotected in many states. 

 These birds appear early in the spring and remain late in the fall. 

 They feed their young on in- 

 sect food. Examinations of the 

 stomach contents of the adults 

 show that about seven-eighths of 

 the red-wing's diet is made up of 

 noxious insects and weed-eeeds. 

 The slaughter of blackbirds that 

 occurred in the West during the 

 twelve years previous to 1877 was 

 in reality a national loss. The 

 cowbird was named from its habit 

 of accompanying the cattle and 

 eagerly picking up the insects 

 which are started up as they feed. 

 The cowbird's food habits are on 

 the whole beneficial, since it eats 

 many insects and weed-seeds. The 

 fact, however, that each young 

 cowbird is raised at the expense 



573. House wren. (4' 4 in j 



of several more valuable birds (by appropriating their nests) 

 makes it too costly. Brewer's blackbird is the western representa- 

 tive of the eastern rusty blackbird. Examination of 146 speci- 

 mens gave the following facts: (1) Grasshoppers constitute more 

 than half of its animal food; (2) more than 88 per cent of the 

 vegetable food is giain, which is freely eaten at all seasons, even 

 when insects are abundant; (3) seeds of harmful weeds are eaten 

 sparingly. On the other hand, it does not attack fruit, which 

 is an important point in a California bird. The yellow-headed 

 blackbird, while wintering in the South, wanders over the country 

 in quest of scattered and wild grain, weed-seeds, various insects, 

 grubs and worms, and does little harm. In the spring, however, 

 the birds congregate at their nesting-haunts and supplement their 

 insect and waste-seed diet by various grains planted by the farmer 

 of the Great Plains, and they are deservedly regarded as a great 

 problem. In the plowing season, they follow the plow and greedily 

 devour the earthworms and insects turned out, also the white grub, 

 the cockchafer, and grasshoppers, the last forming a large part of 

 the food of the young. So far as it has gone, the published work of 

 the Biological Survey on the food of the yellow-headed blackbird, 

 indicates that on the whole the good done by this bird somewhat 

 overbalances the harm. 



The meadowlark destroys quantities of grasshoppers, cutworms, 

 beetles, chinch-bugs, crane-flies, and "thousand-legs," where it 

 takes only a few useful insects and a little scattered grain. In sum- 

 mer, 99 per cent of its food consists of insects, and in winter it takes 

 many weed-seeds. 



The kingbird (bee martin) (Fig. 576) is esteemed by agricul- 

 turists for its pugnacious disposition in driving off crows and hawks. 

 Ninety per cent of its food consists of flying insects. It belongs to 

 the family of flycatchers, of which the phcebe, the wood pewee 

 and the great crested flycatcher are conspicuous members. They 

 all obtain their food on the wing, darting out frequently from some 

 chosen limb and back again. Bee-keepers have contended that the 

 kingbird catches and kills honey-bees. In an investigation of 281 

 stomachs, only fourteen contained any remains of bees, fifty in all, 

 of which forty were drones, four were workers, and six undeter- 

 mined. At the same time, nineteen robber-flies were found, which 

 more than compensated for the four workers. It is probable that 

 kingbirds do eat a few bees, mostly drones, but they certainly 

 also protect bees from insects that prey upon them. 



Of swallows, there are five species in Eastern North America 

 that one may expect to see: the barn swallow, the cliff swallow, 

 bank swallow, tree swallow, and the purple martins. All of them 

 do valuable work in clearing the air of insects, but the horticul- 

 turist will do well to encourage especially the purple martin. It 

 feeds largely on some of the greatest pests: rose-beetles and May- 

 beetles, the striped cucumber-beetle, as well as house-flies and flies 

 that trouble cattle and horses. 





574. Catbird. (Length 9 in.) 



